Empty Seats

谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) – Hoàng Thanh Trang
7th World Women’s Team Chess Championship; Astana, March 5, 2019
Dutch Defence A81

China, Russia, Ukraine and United States are among the favourite teams to win the 7th World Women’s Team Chess Championship, which is taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan from 4–16 March. For China, indeed, it might be just a little difficult to get to, due to the absences of the world No 1 and No 2 women 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), the first being in her first year at Oxford on her Rhodes Scholarship, and the latter playing the Challengers Tournament of the 1st Prague International Chess Festival as the only woman in the cast. 1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. 0-0 0-0 6. Nbd2!? Nc6! 7. c4 e6!? 8. Re1 d5 9. b3 Ne4 10. Bb2 b6 11. a3 Bb7 12. e3 Na5!? A new move. 12. ... g5 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2 g4 15. b4 Qd7 16. b5 Nd8 17. a4 a6 produced an unclear but quite balanced position, Marjanović – Nakamura, 43rd Chess Olympiad 2018, Batumi 2018. 13. Qc2 Nxd2 14. Nxd2 dxc4 15. bxc4 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qd7 17. Nf3 c5 18. dxc5 Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Nxc4 20. Qd4 Qxd4 21. exd4 bxc5 22. dxc5!? Objectively better seems 22. Rec1(!) Na5 23. Rab1 winning back the Pawn with interest. 22. ... Rac8 23. Ng5 e5 24. Rac1 Nb2 25. Rc3 e4 26. Rb1 Nd3 27. c6

27. ... h6? Undoubtedly this is the losing move. Correct was 27. ... Rfe8! followed by ... h7-h6 with a still tenable position. 28. Ne6 Rf6 29. Nd4 Rd6. On other replies White equally continues c6-c7. If, instead, 29. ... Rf7 then 30. Rb7! winning easily. 30. c7! Rb6 31. Rxb6 axb6 32. Rc6 Ne5 33. Re6 Nf7. 33. ... Rxc7 34. Rxe5 just leads to a lost ending. 34. Nb5 Kf8 35. Rxg6 Ke8 36. Rg8+ Kd7 37. Rg7 Rf8 38. Rxf7+! 1 : 0. For after 38. ... Rxf7 39. c8=Q+! Kxc8 40. Nd6+ it’s all over.

China’s Board 1 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí). Photo: sohu.com.